Clause 1 - British overseas territories
British Overseas Territories Bill [Lords]
9:45 am
Mr Ben Bradshaw (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Exeter, Labour)
Clause 1 gives legal effect to the decision to change the collective of name of the territories from dependent territories to British overseas territories. This policy was announced in a White Paper in March 1999, and it is intended to reflect the changing relationship between the United Kingdom and these territories.
Clause 1 substitutes ''British overseas territories'' for the old heading ''British dependent territories'' in schedule 6 to the British Nationality Act 1981, and makes that change wherever else the phrase occurs within the 1981 Act. The clause also inserts into schedule 1 of the Interpretation Act 1978 a new definition of British overseas territory, which would be the same as that in the British Nationality Act 1981. These name changes are simply alterations of labels and involve no changes to substantive law.